By choosing to post the reply below you agree to the rules you agreed to when joining Sailnet.
Click Here to view those rules.

Message:

Trackback:

Send Trackbacks to (Separate multiple URLs with spaces) :

Post Icons

You may choose an icon for your message from the following list:

No icon

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the SailNet Community forums, you must first register. Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.Please note: After entering 3 characters a list of Usernames already in use will appear and the list will disappear once a valid Username is entered.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Click here to view the posting rules you are bound to when clicking the'Submit Reply' button below

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Automatically retrieve titles from external links

Click here to view the posting rules you are bound to when clicking the'Submit Reply' button below

" As sailors like to say, nothing goes to weather (upwind) like a 747.

QUOTE]

I had never heard this line before, but I like it.

06-13-2013 08:36 PM

TQA

Re: Trade Winds Dying

They have been blowing as normal the last 4 years in the Eastern Caribbean as far as I can seeC

Stronger than usual at the moment with a week of 18 to 22 knots.

06-13-2013 08:36 PM

MarkofSeaLife

Re: Trade Winds Dying

Ive had my ass blown by trade winds in the Caribbean all year long and I wish they would die!

Just as strong as I remember.

06-13-2013 08:25 PM

casey1999

Re: Trade Winds Dying

Quote:

Originally Posted by travlineasy

In the Florida Keys, at least during the winter months, when the trades are strongest, there were a lot of boats stuck in Marathon and other locations waiting for a good weather window to cross to the Bahamas. The weather opportunities were quite rare, IMO, about two days a month at best. The remainder of January, February and March were too windy to make a safe crossing in boats less than 40 feet. There were many, many days when I wanted to just go offshore, slip into the nearby Gulf Stream and cruise around, but those 25 to 35-knot winds and 8 to 10-foot seas kept me in the sheltered waters on the Gulf side of 7-Mile Bridge. That was OK, though - I had a ball sailing through the shallows where depths ranged just 7 to 10 feet and you could see thousands of fish skittering beneath the boat.

Cheers,

Gary

Your story along with this recent article "prove" somthing is going on:

Arduous voyage enriched
by following variable wind
PAPEETE, Tahiti Ľ The first leg of my South Pacific voyage is over. It took me three months to outfit the boat in Mexico, sail to the Marquesas, explore the Tua*motu Archipelago and get Honu put up in a Tahiti marina. Now I'm going home.

As in all outdoor adventures, the trip had its ups and downs. Some days I wondered what I had been thinking to take this on. This is too hard, I would grumble, wishing I was in Kailua eating takeout and reading Jack Reacher novels.

Other days, as Honu surfed up and down the Pacific Ocean's giant blue swells, every cell in my body glowed with pleasure.

"Thank you!" I'd call to the wind.

I talked to the wind because on a sailboat, wind is everything. It's the engine of the ocean, driving not just sailboats and occupants, but the wildlife that lives in, on and above the water.

Some sailors discuss wind and sea conditions in terms of a system that puts numbers to wind and waves. Called the Beauford Scale, it ranges from Force 0 (no wind) to Force 17 (the strongest hurricane).

I don't use the Beauford Scale because, in recalling my voyages, there seem to be only two conditions: too little wind or too much wind. Of course, there were plenty of perfectly lovely sailing days, but like most trips, in recalling the details, the extremes stand out.

On the passage from Mexico to the Marquesas, I mostly had too little wind. That may sound relaxing but it is not. The sails slap with annoying bangs, the boat pitches and rolls to no rhythm and the skipper and crew get cranky in a hurry.

At those times I used what sailors jokingly call the iron genny (genny is the nickname for a big sail called a genoa), meaning the diesel engine. It's loud, hot and smelly, but it moved the boat forward. While motoring, however, I had to worry about fuel.

During most of my time in the Marquesas and the Tua*mo*tos, I had the opposite problem: too much wind. The southeast tradewinds were so strong for such prolonged periods that in one month I visited only two islands and two atolls.

But staying at anchor for longer than I planned turned out to be a bonus. In Nuku Hiva while waiting for a wind break, I hiked to one of that island's (and the world's) most stunning waterfalls. In a memorable wade in the pool below, freshwater shrimp climbed onto my feet and up my legs.

Spending a week each in the Tua*moto lagoons of Kau*ehi and Faka*rava atolls, I enjoyed snorkeling in crystal water washed in by wind-driven waves that crashed over the fringing reefs.

The lagoon water was so clear and the marine life so stunning that I snorkeled until my fingers wrinkled and my toes got cold.

I also got to see the seabirds swooping and diving in all their glory.

My 37-foot ketch will stay in Tahiti for a couple of months while Craig and I go home to Oahu the easy way, on a plane. We won't have to worry about how hard or from what direction the wind blows. As sailors like to say, nothing goes to weather (upwind) like a 747.

Once home, I'll read a Reacher, eat some salad and start planning the next leg of my South Pacific voyage."

06-13-2013 08:19 PM

casey1999

Re: Trade Winds Dying

Quote:

Originally Posted by northoceanbeach

I know. I'd wanted to learn to windsurf forever that was the reason I moved to Maui. I'd say only one in three new people were learning to windsurf over kite. I've never tried kiting.

Carribean trades it is.

I was never drawn to kiting like I was windsurfing. Started windsurfing way before the kite was invented. Always kind of afraid of the kite and the strings and all of that, heard and seen some horror stories. Looks like a lot of the early danger problems with the kite have been worked out. I like the simplicity of the windsurfer, but the kiters look to get way more radical. In any case, too late to teach this old dog how to kite, I'll stick to the windsurfer.

06-13-2013 08:11 PM

travlineasy

Re: Trade Winds Dying

In the Florida Keys, at least during the winter months, when the trades are strongest, there were a lot of boats stuck in Marathon and other locations waiting for a good weather window to cross to the Bahamas. The weather opportunities were quite rare, IMO, about two days a month at best. The remainder of January, February and March were too windy to make a safe crossing in boats less than 40 feet. There were many, many days when I wanted to just go offshore, slip into the nearby Gulf Stream and cruise around, but those 25 to 35-knot winds and 8 to 10-foot seas kept me in the sheltered waters on the Gulf side of 7-Mile Bridge. That was OK, though - I had a ball sailing through the shallows where depths ranged just 7 to 10 feet and you could see thousands of fish skittering beneath the boat.

Cheers,

Gary

06-13-2013 08:10 PM

northoceanbeach

Re: Trade Winds Dying

I know. I'd wanted to learn to windsurf forever that was the reason I moved to Maui. I'd say only one in three new people were learning to windsurf over kite. I've never tried kiting.

Carribean trades it is.

06-13-2013 07:35 PM

casey1999

Re: Trade Winds Dying

Quote:

Originally Posted by northoceanbeach

That's not why winds are good on Maui that's why they are stronger but they sill need the trade winds to be strong in the first place. I've been blasted by singing sand and water everywhere from Maalaea to Kohala to ehukai. (Auto correct hates Hawaiian).

Maybe you're right. It just doesn't seem like it to me.

I hope I am wrong about the trades, and they come back more consistent. That way I can continue to live without air conditioning, and windsurf in consistent 25 kn winds, and sail the big boat in winds that are not gusting to 40 knots all this with the normal NE direction.

Maui needs NE trades, if the trades are to E, which they have been going to more consistently, then no good. One thing that has happened here, very few windsurfers left, most have gone to kiting. Interesting the kites can sail in a much lower wind range than a good windsurf wave board. Kites will not be as impacted by low wind conditions like windsurfers.

Would be good to hear what is going on in Carribean.

06-13-2013 07:22 PM

northoceanbeach

Re: Trade Winds Dying

That's not why winds are good on Maui that's why they are stronger but they sill need the trade winds to be strong in the first place. I've been blasted by singing sand and water everywhere from Maalaea to Kohala to ehukai. (Auto correct hates Hawaiian).

Maybe you're right. It just doesn't seem like it to me.

06-13-2013 07:15 PM

casey1999

Re: Trade Winds Dying

Quote:

Originally Posted by northoceanbeach

Nah. If the trades were always so gentle then Maui wouldn't have been the windsurfing capital of the world for so long.

Just when I thought that we were going to close out February with light, unsailable days, the wind surprised everyone yesterday and came up to sailable levels in the upper teens and occasional hitting 20.

I was pretty dubious when I saw the readings but headed down to the beach anyway. Looked pretty marginal but I rigged up my 5.7 and headed out. Got planing on the outbound reach, but that was the extent of that. Those who hit the water before I got there scored, as well as those who stuck around after I left it looks like.

The Windsurfing Magazine test crew hard at work
Lots of 2012 sail testing going on at Kanaha yesterday. Josh Sampiero and the Windsurfing Magazine test crew are on Maui trying to test some 2012 sails for an upcoming issue. It’s been tough, with a deadline looming and frustratingly light winds most of February. They got on some 6+ meter stuff while I was out yesterday, testing some 2012 Maui Sails, 2012 Goyas, 2012 Severne and 2012 Sailworks among others.

Kai Hopf and the North Sails development and test team have been hanging out at Kanaha all winter and were there testing yesterday as well. Judging from the number of sails they’ve been testing all winter it’s obvious they’re working hard to get their 2012 sail line dialed in. You’ll probably see some new and different stuff from North for 2012 so keep an eye on them.

March is almost here and that means that the annual photo shoot season is almost upon us. This March and April we’ll be seeing most of the big brands like Neil Pryde, North, Starboard, Fanatic and others arriving with all their new 2012 gear and team riders to get the shots you’ll be seeing in the magazines and brochures next fall. Hopefully our spring trade winds will cooperate more than our winter winds have. Here’s some more photos of the testing action yesterday.

This thread has more than 10 replies.
Click here to review the whole thread.